Best Places to Live in 2010

Each year I look forward to reading the Quality of Life Index published by International Living that ranks the best places to live in the world. I am still looking for that perfect place to retire, the perfect place for affordable health care, a perfect place with no air pollution or water pollution, and of course where I can afford to live. It probably would not be too much to ask if I also wanted a perfect climate, a place where I feel safe to walk at night, and a place that is easy to get around.

The staff at International Living considers all those dreamy living factors when they rank countries for their Quality of Life Index. The raters at International Living look at 194 countries and rank each country based on these factors: cost of living (15%), economy (15%), climate (10%), health (10%), safety (10%), environment (10%), infrastructure (10%), freedom (10%), and culture (10%). The places with the best quality of life in 2010 according to International Living are: France, Australia, Switzerland, Germany, New Zealand, Luxembourg, United States, Belgium, Canada, and Italy.

France is ranked as the Number One Best Place to Live in 2010 for the fifth year in a row! This might be especially attractive to some Americans looking for a great place to retire that has quality affordable health care. France was the only country of the 194 countries ranked to score a 100 in the health category. The health category looks at things like calories consumed in the country as a percent of a person's daily requirements, public expenditures, life expectancy, infant mortality rate, people to doctors ratio, people to hospitals ratio, and more.

France also scored 100 in the categories of Freedom and Safety. This compares with the United States that scored 78 in Health, 92 in Freedom, and 100 in Safety. On the 2010 Quality of Life Index, the United States was ranked Number 7 overall. Last year, the United States was ranked Number 3 on the list of best places to live. For 2010, the United States dropped in the categories of Cost of Living, Environment, and Freedom. The United States was the only country to score a 100 in the category of Infrastructure for the best places to live, 2010 Quality of Life Index.

There was another interesting change from the top ten best places to live from 2009 to 2010. Canada replaced Denmark in the top ten best places to live. In the 2010 best places to live, Denmark still ranked Number 16 but Canada moved up to the top ten with high scores in Freedom, Safety, Infrastructure, and Health.

If you are looking for the best climate in the world, the only country in the 2010 Index to receive a 100 in the climate category was Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe also received the lowest ranking of 194 countries in the category of Freedom. Iraq was the only country to score a 100 in the category of Cost of Living. Sweden scored highest for Leisure and Culture. Liechtenstein was the only country to score a 100 for their economy.

The only country in 2010 to receive a 100 ranking in the category of Environment is Brunei. The environment category takes into account such things as population density, population growth, greenhouse emissions, and protected lands. Now if you are like me, you might be saying, "where in the heck is Brunei?" Brunei sits on the South China Sea and is bordered by Malaysia. The population in 2008 was 368,000 in an area slightly larger than the state of Delaware.

Before you go packing your chopsticks to retire in the best carbon footprint country, consider that Brunei also scored a very low 25 in the categories of Freedom and Climate. It is hot and humid there. If you still want to visit Brunei to escape those greenhouse emissions, check out this CIA World Factbook on Brunei.

Sources:

http://www.internationalliving.com/Internal-Components/Further-Resources/quality-of-life-2010